Furious Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to expose the Ukraine whistleblower’s identity during their questioning of Purple Heart-winning colonel Alexander Vindman.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former DNC head and now a representative for Florida, said Republicans on the Intelligence Committee had used their hour of questioning to try and get Vindman ‘to narrow down for them who the whistleblower is’.
Republicans argued that theirs was a legitimate line of questioning and hit out at committee head Adam Schiff who told Vindman not to answer some queries.
‘He’s under subpoena—he’s supposed to answer the questions we have during our hour, and Chairman Schiff instructed him not to answer those questions,’ Jim Jordan told the Wall Street Post.
It came as the whistleblower’s legal team revealed they have been receiving death threats, at least one of which was serious enough to spark an FBI investigation.
Alexander Vindman, the National Security Counsel’s top Ukraine expert, testified before the Intelligence Committee on Tuesday about Trump’s call with Ukraine’s President
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former DNC head who is now a member of the committee, accused Republicans of using their questions to try and expose the whistleblower’s identity
Jim Jordan hit back, saying the Republican line of questioning was legitimate, and hit out at committee chair Adam Schiff – saying he instructed Vindman not to answer questions
The FBI deemed the threat not to be credible after meeting with the individual who sent it, a source told CNN.
‘There have been a myriad of disturbing emails and voicemails, with a few select messages crossing the line enough into direct threats of harm that have resulted in follow up from relevant law enforcement entities,’ the source added.
Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry while calling for the identity of the whistleblower to be revealed, suggesting that he could be prosecuted for treason.
‘Where is the Whistleblower? That is why this is now called the Impeachment Hoax! The Do Nothing Dems are Doing Nothing,’ he tweeted Tuesday.
Nothing is known about the person except that they are a former CIA agent.
Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, testified Tuesday that the White House transcript of the July call between Trump and Ukraine’s president omitted crucial words or phrases.
He said he tried to have the words reintroduced to the transcript, but some of his entreaties were ignored.
Vindman testified that parts of the transcript of Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president were edited to take out remarks, and they weren’t added back in when he reported it
Schiff is leading the closed-door inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine that forms a central part of the impeachment inquiry
The omissions, Vindman said, included Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky mentiuoning by name the energy company that once employed Hunter Biden to its board, Burisma Holdings.
‘He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue,’ the White House’s transcript quotes Zelensky saying.
However, Vindman insists Zelensky specifically mentioned Burisma, telling investigators he tried to have the White House’s transcript changed to include the missing reference but the amendment was never made.
Trump has repeatedly denounced the inquiry and called for the identity of the whistleblower to be revealed
The rough transcript also contains ellipses in three instances where Trump is talking, which again Vindman says he tried to amend. He told investigators the third set of ellipses relates to Trump speaking about alleged recordings of former Vice President Joe Biden boasting about illegal Ukraine funding.
It’s believed the Trump’s mention of the tapes is most likely referring to comments Biden made in January 2018 that the US held $1 billion in loan guarantees until the nation fired its prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin.
The comments led Republicans to believe Biden was actively trying to prevent an investigation into his son from being launched. Democrats say Shokin was lax in his anti-corruption efforts and was not fit for the job.
Though a number of Vindman’s suggested edits were made, such as particular wording, the two cited corrections were never amended for reasons currently unknown.
Dressed in his dark blue Army uniform with military medals displayed proudly across his chest, Vindman didn’t suggest a motive behind the editing process during his more than 10-hour testimony, though his claims will likely prompt investigators to further scrutinize how officials handed the call.
Such lines of inquiry are likely to probe any changes to the transcript, the decision enter it into the White House’s most classified computer system, and whether such actions were purposefully made to conceal the call’s most controversial contents.
Trump is accused of pressuring Vlodomir Zelensky, Ukraine’s president (left) into investigating political rival Joe Biden while threatening to withhold millions of dollars in military aid
Vindman, who was listening in on the call from the White House Situation Room along with other members of Vice President Pence’s staff, said he was so ‘concerned by the call’ — and the idea the president’s request could be seen as ‘a partisan play’ that could ‘undermine U.S. national security’ — that he reported it to the NSC’s lead counsel.
‘I was concerned by the call,’ Vindman said. ‘I did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen, and I was worried about the implications for the U.S. government’s support of Ukraine.’
The House inquiry is looking into Trump’s call, in which he asked Zelenskiy for a ‘favor’ – to investigate Democrats – that the Democrats say was a quid pro quo for military aid and could be an impeachable offense.
With the administration directing staff not to appear, Vindman was the first current White House official to testify before the impeachment panels, after being issued a subpoena.